Amateur archaeologist finds 934 Roman silver denarii in German field

The hoard, buried south of Cologne in the second century AD, is the biggest coin treasure ever found in Germany from the time of Hadrian

An amateur archaeologist who discovered several Roman silver coins in a field in western Germany realised he had stumbled upon something much bigger when his metal detector kept beeping.

Oliver Riedl called the authorities for help and a group of experts who began digging immediately discovered a total of 934 Roman silver denarii. It is the biggest coin treasure ever found in Germany from the time of the Roman emperor Hadrian, the local office in charge of archaeological monuments said on Tuesday.